Olivia Wilde: Veganism ‘Not Always Easy’

By China DeSpain | July 31, 2012

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Her career is red hot — she currently has nine movies in the pipeline — but actress Olivia Wilde is just as well-known for her vegan diet as she is for her films. And although she’s committed to plant-based eating, she recently spoke about how challenging it can be.

At an event honoring a bag she designed with her charity, which benefits Haitian schools, she talked about how switching from vegetarian to vegan has proven to be tough at times.

“I have been a vegetarian since I was like… 12,” she said. “But [being vegan] has been something that, for the past four years, has at times been consistent, other times less so. It helps if you have the right support system.”

For Wilde, that support system comes in the form of a somewhat surprising ally: vegan superstar Alicia Silverstone. According to Wilde, the two actresses were on set when Silverstone took Wilde under her wing.

“The person who really showed me the best way to do it was Alicia Silverstone. We were shooting a movie called ‘Butter’ and we were in Northern Louisiana — where there is no vegetarian food — and she cooked the most incredible recipes from the Kind Diet for me everyday. I have never looked or felt better in my life.”

“[Being vegan] is not always easy and accessible,” she added. “But it’s a way of life and makes me as a person feel really good and physically look better. My skin was better, energy was better.”

It’s great to see that Wilde understands the benefits of an animal-free diet, but her veganism doesn’t seem to extend to fashion. Although it’s awesome that she’s helping the needy, it turns out her charity bag (which benefits Academy for Peace and Justice in Port-au-Prince), is trimmed in leather.

Here’s hoping Silverstone, who recently launched a redesigned Kind Life website, will give Wilde some tips on the benefits of cruelty-free fashion.

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0 Comments

shane

Veganism is not a diet. It sounds like she is still unfortunately very much a vegetarian.

It is true that the main problem when you’re a vegan is support. But I mean a different kind of support – the availability of good vegan food, for instance. Since I became a vegan, I was forced to become my own chef, too. I don’t regret anything, but this seems to be the problem for many vegans – having to cook your own food, and the availability of good vegan food in the restaurants and fast food places. This society forces you to eat salads and bread, and that’s not nearly enough for a healthy diet! No wonder Alicia Silverstone has no problems with being vegan, because she knows how to prepare her own food, same as me.